[CrackBerry Kevin]

What's up, all?!

So when the BlackBerry PRIV first came out (actually, even before it came out I had my hands on one), I *mainly* loved it. I could rock the full touchscreen without issues, and loved that the keyboard was there if and when I needed it (typing long passwords, typing in bumpy environments -- like when walking -- etc.).

After a while though, a couple things bugged me about the PRIV:

1) Battery Life - I just couldn't get through the day. Or, let me re-phrase slightly. If I turned the screen brightness way down I could get through a day, but I really, really, really detest a DARK screen. So if I cranked the brightness up to a level where I was happy, then I found battery life was really dead before the day was done. But even on days where I kept screen brightness low, I still ran into the circumstance of just becoming paranoid I wouldn't get through the day.... and I hate having battery life anxiety.

2) Camera - While still an awesome camera overall by BlackBerry standards, I just wasn't finding it to be as fast / trustworthy to use as I needed my phone camera to be (it can take great shots, but I want to be able to whip the phone out, snap a fast picture, and have confidence that the one first shot was great). Compared to iPhone or S7 camera, I wasn't seeing that yet.

So after a while, I switched off the PRIV.

Now... both of my gripes are the types of things that software can improve over time.

So I wanted to check in and see how everybody was doing with their PRIV these days. The more important thing to me over the camera is battery life, so I'll setup a poll to that end. But please leave any comments and thoughts.

If the overall trend is looking good.. will stick my SIM back in the Priv.

Thanks in advance. Hope everybody is doing awesome!

[Uzi]

Do you have priv ? Wow never know that

[CrackBerry Kevin]

To be honest, I actually had a PRIV long before anybody did! Remember that one that turned up for sale one day on CrackBerry's forums? I bought it immediately. Did the nice thing though and gave it back to BlackBerry. Would have been way more fun to blog the heck out of it on the homepage, but you know.. sometimes you have to do the right thing (plus, unlike the old days of CrackBerry with Jim Balsillie & Mike Lazaridis or Thorsten Heins as CEO, I think John Chen would have lawsuited the heck out of me for industrial espionage for leaking trade secrets. I mean... he went after Ryan Seacrest! To be fair though, Mike/Jim did cause us lots of legal grief too... but managed to work through it).

Oh boy..... so many years of crazy stories now that I think about it. One day I will have to write the book on all the crazy S H I T that went down through the CrackBerry Kevin era. So much of it. Or maybe a special edition tell all CrackBerry Podcast.... Let me think on that. Maybe it's time.

Do you have priv ? Wow never know that

[NG888]

Battery life for me is also really bad, barely making 7-8 hrs, and on nominal use, I tried everything to switch off adaptive screen etc... no luck, BlackBerry services seem to eat up a lot of battery. I got the S7 Edge for comparison, the Samsung outlasts the PRIV by far on battery, and the edge screen on the Samsung is a great ideal for multi tasking. I barely use the edge on the PRIV, it's almost useless.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[so crow]

Kevin we miss you and love you Kevin please don't leave us. My priv has been awesome easily gets me through a day and brightness is around half way all the time. Good to see blackberry keeping up with the security updates and I can only see this phone getting better and better especially when marshmallow comes. I feel more and more that blackberry outdid themselves on making a first android device to me it's one of the best androids out there. Keep Supporting blackberry kevin we love you and miss you don't leave us.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[mzconsulting]

I unplug at 5:00 am and by 10:00 pm I am usually above 50% battery and never below 40%. I don't do anything special to save battery. Really love my PRIV

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[TheBond]

I got my second Priv and so far it's doing alright. I didn't install anything extra on it yet. Just the core stuff that I need. No Facebook or Twitter yet.

Although I had a fairly busy Friday so was unable to use the device much. It's around 15 hours since I unplugged it and the phone is at 42%. The screen on time is 2 hr 43 minutes. I have also used the device for calling for more than 2 hours.

I am thinking either they had revised the internals a little or may be I'm using the device how the BlackBerry testers used it. Not many third party apps. With almost same set up, minus some social media apps, my 1st phone was running super hot.

I'll install a few apps each day and monitor what was the culprit with my 1st device.

Posted via BlackBerry Priv

[stefanbechen]

I got my Priv end of 2015 and the biggest issue for me is the Android UX.

After BlackBerry pushed out a number of updates, I can say that my Priv gets me through a full and busy day easily.

Camera is very good and fast. Not as fast as the iPhone ones but still good for fast shots.

I do not have a ton of Apps on my Priv and screen brightness is moderate.

And: A Priv and a Tesla looks really nice! So don't part those two ;-)

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[WWBlondieDo]

I keep my brightness around 60-70% (I, too, hate a dark screen) and listen to Spotify for a good 6-7 hours while at work and my PRIV easily lasts throughout the normal workday. My average SOT is over 5 hours. I had one day where my PRIV was getting warm and draining quickly but I powered all the way off and then back on and it sorted itself out. I figure something must have been hanging in the background (which happens on Android). I have Location on but not Bluetooth. WiFi is on but not connected to anything while I'm at work. I have multiple email addresses, BBM, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Reddit all on the phone (and I check them multiple times a day, lol).

The battery doesn't get me through a full day at work and then a full night out (when I tend to be on the phone/camera a lot) but I don't think any phone would. I've been very pleased with it so far.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android on my VZW PRIV

[anon(2888700)]

Everyone's usage varies so you know it's difficult to compare against someone else. Personally I never had an issue with the battery lasting the day.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[CrackBerry Kevin]

Thanks for all the great feedback and comments so far! Curious to see how the poll does as more people vote on it. Bit of a mix....

[raremage]

Note that I'm on Verizon - which I suppose could contribute to a better / newer build quality than initially available on release. Also I've used Android (as well as iOS) before so other than some refresher info, the UX experience hasn't been a challenge. I'm a gadget geek as well as a technology consultant, so I do like to stay well informed on the mobility space.

Battery life for me has been acceptable, I can make it through the day with minimal concern. My typical day starts by unplugging around 7AM and usually ends around 11PM or so when I plug back in before bed. I generally use my phone for a few calls (maybe an hour per day, though that varies) as well as listening to music while working, plus social accounts (primarily facebook, twitter, quora, linked in, plus crackberry) and four email accounts (3 gmail, one Exchange/corporate). I probably process around 100-150 emails per day, primarily on my phone.

Once in a while I'll play Hearthstone, but it does tend to drain the battery much more quickly, plus this does cause the phone to het up a bit.

By the time I plug back in I'm probably hovering between 20-40%.

My most previous phone was a flip-flop back and forth between a iPhone 6 and a BB Classic. So far I'm quite pleased with my Priv (except for the damned name!). It has completely eliminated my need to swap back and forth and the keyboard (to me) is a cross between my old Torch and Dell Venue Pro - which is a good thing.

Overall I would definitely recommend the Priv to others.

Edit: For the record I selected "OK" for the poll - but to me, the top choice would mean I have battery life as I did in my old BB9870, meaning I could run for a few days without a charge. Definitely can't do that with the Priv.

[aha]

Good to see you back Kevin. Interesting poll too, was wondering the same question.

PassportSQW100-1/10.3.2.2339

[delanyinspiron6400]

Most of the time, battery life is awesome, the only real battery hogs are GPS usage and games, but this is mainly not a problem!
I notice that after a restart, battery life seems to be not as good, maybe as a lot of services are syncing and also after updates! But in general I'm happy, it is now nearly as good as my Passport was

[bluetroll]

I'm finding that I usually need a top up with the QC 2.0 charger in the evening. By 9pm I typically will need to give a top up. Sometimes it's as early as 6pm depending on how much screen on and GPS I've been using during the day.

The camera is so slow to open compared to an iPhone. It takes forever to open the App when shortcutted from the lockscreen. It's pretty quick if you've recently opened the camera.

It takes pictures at OK speeds when there's decent light, but any dimmer area it's slow. There is a lot of room for improvement.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[SaccoMTL]

Priv has been awesome for me after first month of use. Starting my day at 9am and ending my day at 2am, I usually go through my day with about 30% battery life remaining - which is great in my opinion.

I send and receive email, text quite a bit, listen to about an hours worth of music on my commute to and from work, and have some basic sports apps with continuous sports notifications (I work in the sports world). I keep my phone brightness at about 70%. So overall I'm extremely pleased with battery life.

This is my first time using an Android device and have to say, I love it. I feel like I'm getting the best of both worlds in BB10 and Android. I'm extremely satisfied and I'm looking forward to future software updates. With the right updates, I think this phone has the potential to be one of the best on the market.

[fanisk]

Got the Priv back on December and I am absolutely happy with it ! My only complain is the battery life . It will last me 24 hours when I am on WiFi but not more than 10-11 hours when I am on GSM. I keep brightness to about 35-40 % and I have disabled all vibrations and most of the notification sounds. This battery life is acceptable for me although is approximately 20% less than my passport. In order to have no concern when I am out on GSM I keep as back up my battery bunk from the times of my Z 10 and then I can easily pass a full day.

Camera is awesome, quite fast but definitely not as fast as on S7 . However picture quality is same ,if not better than iPhone 6 of my wife.

[blueburk]

a special edition tell all CrackBerry Podcast....

Almost fell over reading that... miss those days the blackberry team WITH KEVIN spoke about blackberry news. Guess there is nothing good about blackdriod to speak about sad times OH YEA back on topic heavy useage lasts a full day and thats talking for 4-9 hour's nothing else no apps usage

[Thalakar]

It was OK before but since March update batter life seems fantastic

Posted via the CrackBerry App for for Priv

[BriniaSona]

4 Hours of screen on time here, I can get about 12 hours over all though. Battery drains a heck of a lot more in stand by than any BB device before it ever has. I'd say the battery is on par with the HTC M9 I used to have and way way wayyyyy better than my girlfriends iPhone 5.


Side Note: Android Authority uses the CrackBerry video music now. But it's probably a royalty free song.

[DoktorFace]

The battery on my phone seems to last forever, I sometimes wonder if I got something different from a lot of people on here because it is used more than my Classic because I am still looking for an app for that and the battery just keeps going.
The camera is amazing, I leave HDR off when taking most photos because I heard that shaking and HDR don't mix but I love the camera. I disagree with many that say it is anything besides awesome but maybe I see things differently. I am truly impressed.

Posted via the CrackBerry App for Android

[toneytone]

Apps running in the background is the main thing I have to control to get my battery to last a long time. Other than that it's not bad. Not great either but about on par with other flagships.

Posted via the CrackBerry App from a BlackBerry Priv

[IndianTiwari]

My usage is high. My battery lasts for 8 to 10 hours. I am extremely happy and satisfied with my Priv. No issues at all.

Blackberry Priv on Etisalat 4G Network

[Sigewif]

I love the Priv. The battery gets me well to evening. Sometimes it gets low by bedtime but bedtime is usually a while after midnight. One time I forgot to plug it into the charger and it was still way over 20% the next morning. My phone was probably in the 2nd wave of unlocked phones that were produced. I found my way to CrackBerry with the first rumors and news of the "Venice," which, of course, became the Priv. A family member has a Classic which is a great phone. I really wanted a bigger screen and thought about the Passport but needed specific apps for our business that required a late model android OS. Plus, I love the slider PKB! So after hearing about some of its specs, I knew the Priv would be my next phone. I am on T-Mobile. I bought one from ShopBlackberry to avoid waiting for T-Mobile. It arrived in late November. The first round of updates came right after I got it. I have not had the troubles some people have reported. In the beginning it got rather warm and still gets warm on occasion, but not nearly as much as before. I rank the battery for my phone to be between the top two choices on the survey. Which should I choose? Probably it is closer to Awesome than OK. (It started out OK and has improved.) I always get through the day, and also well into the evening, except for rare occasions, usually when it is doing updates on a heavy use day. I know it is way better a battery than my husband's Galaxy s6.
As for the camera? One word: Awesome!! The updates improved it greatly from when I first got it. It does well also in low light situations. I have taken some photos in the low light at dusk that are stunning. I took a few in a shady, woodsy area that came out amazingly well, considering the poor lighting. When I first got it, the camera lagged but there is very little lag now. Perhaps a tad. But wow, it rivals my late model point and shoot camera! The slow motion video we got with a recent update is a hoot. I wondered who "Kevin" was since I am kind of new here, and know that the seasoned CrackBerry folks appreciate hearing from you.

[CrackBerry Kevin]

Thanks again for all the feedback. Seems like battery life is improving, and the culprits of poor battery life can be fairly easily controlled.